1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bagging or packaging ice wherein the ice is packaged immediately after freezing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Before my invention, there were machines commercially available (such as those manufactured by Kold-draft Div. of Uniflow Manufacturing Company, Erie, Pa. under U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,009,336 and 3,654,771) wherein a pre-measured amount of water was frozen, cubed, and dumped in bulk. Each freezing cycle froze a preset amount of water, and, therefore, each freezing cycle produced the same weight of ice.
Also, before my invention, there were U.S. patents for bagging ice and other material.
For example, Zimmerman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,668, disclosed a coinoperated bagger wherein upon activation of the machine, a measured aomount of ice would be augered into a chute leading to a bag. The ice reached the auger from a storage bin which had stirring rods therein to keep the ice from freezing together. The ice was pre-frozen and dumped into the bulk storage bin. Sacks were fed from a roll to a position under the chute where the ice would be caught.
Lamka et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,019, discloses a machine where ice from a bulk storage is augered into three measuring columns. The measuring columns are mounted on a rotating head. The columns are indexed to a dumping chute where they are dumped into a bag. The top bag of a stack of bags is opened by an air blast to receive the measured amount of ice which is dumped each time one of the measuring bins is rotated over the chute. The bags are removed and enclosed otherwise.
Rowland et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,343, discloses an ice machine wherein ice is augered upward from a bin of ice into a dumping chute. The machine is coin operated, and the machine dumps ice into a hand held receptacle.
McKenney et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,193, discloses a coin operated bagging machine. The ice is maintained in a storage compartment with sloping walls. When a coin is inserted, a flap opens a bag which is positioned under a chute and when the bag is opened, the auger is actuated to place ice in the bag until the weight of the ice upon a grid wherein the bag is resting indicates a predetermined amount of weight. At that time, the auger motor is stopped and the bag of ice is removed by hand.
Feistel, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,366, also discloses a coin operated machine wherein the ice is made in bulk and thereafter is measured as to volume. Upon insertion of a coin, a predetermined volume of ice is dispensed.
Merat, U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,444, discloses a heat-sealable bag mechanism.
Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,374, discloses a blower for blowing open the top of a plurality of bags to be filled.